The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to hand out the funds allocated for various state governments to develop infrastructure in subordinate judiciary within two weeks.
Advocates Vinay Hansaria and Sneha Kalita requested the Centre to disburse the funds after utilization certificates of funds have been submitted by the respective state governments.
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They said that data received from the northeastern states of Tripura and Sikkim has shown that distribution of funds was not uniform, according to reports.
The apex court was also notified that there was a need for directions for disbursal of central funds of Tripura for 2015-16 to 2018-19.
The court was also informed that Sikkim has been provided with entire amount spent on centrally sponsored scheme.
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They also informed that share of central funds has been reduced from 75 per cent to 60 per cent.
The court was further informed that the Centre has reduced disbursement of funds from Rs 900 crore to Rs 600 crore annually after the period 2015-16.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna directed the state governments to submit the utilization certificates of earlier disbursed funds and other necessary documents to the Centre .
The bench further added that the funds will be disbursed after the necessary documents have been submitted by the state governments.
The bench said that the short term measures suggested by advocate Vinay Hansaria as an amicus curiae or ‘friend of the court’ shall be implemented but the long-term suggestion measures needs further consideration by the apex court .
The apex court is monitoring the steps taken for developing infrastructure in subordinate judiciary.It is also taking steps for filling up of 5000 vacancies of judicial officers across the country.
The top court has appointed senior advocates Shyam Divan, KV Viswanathan, Vijay Hansaria and lawyer Gaurav Agarwal as amicus curiae and asked them to assist it in dealing with the case.
Divan would assist the apex court in filling up with the vacancies in the northeastern states.